T
he intrigue into lifting
probably first started when
James Hollingshead was at
home. His parents separated,
leaving only distant memories of his
dad being present at the house.
“After my parents split, I used to
grab the 5kg dumbbells that were
floating around the house and lift
them every 30-40 minutes whilst
listening to music,” says James.
“This was like a therapy session to
me- I was just a young boy who was
trying to become a man like my dad.
It was the only way that I could feel
close to him. The time I spent lifting
sort of filled the void that was left
by his absence.”
As he got older, James’ passion for
lifting didn’t fade. One of his school
friends had a garage with a weights
bench, curling bar and few other
bits in it.
“These weights belonged to my
mate’s older brother. We really
looked up to him, we both thought it
was so cool to be strong,” he says,
reminiscing. “None of us were very
academic- it was all about who was
the strongest. I suppose we were
just finding the alpha male among us.
After school, we all hung out and
lifted. This was our way of bonding-
we were bonded by steel.”
But the equipment these young
men were using wasn’t adequate for
what they really wanted to achieve.
“I went and joined the leisure
centre because I wanted more out
of my workouts,” says James. “I was
only 14 at the time. We weren’t
allowed to use the weights, but we
AFTER CLIMBING KILIMANJARO,
THERE WAS ANOTHER MOUNTAIN
TO CLIMB.
WAS
THE MINDSET
BY DARREN
NICHOLHURST
PHOTOS BY ?????????????
STRONG ENOUGH TO REACH THE
PEAK OF PRO STATUS.
/// BY DARREN NICHOLHURST
/// PHOTOGRAPHS BY REBECCA ANDREWS
MARCH 2018 | FLEX
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